Monday, April 17, 2017

They expressed interest in my work,
but ultimately - it was my use of vibrant colors, movement and illustrative
aesthetic in myhttps://www.instagram.com/foundinvoids/continuous feed that they
felt most connected to.

Working closely with Creative
Directors Brett & Krista Brown, I was able to utilize my digital
illustration experience to help flush out the concept. We created several
lenticular installations, stillsandmotion pieces for this campaign that
was publicized via a massive transit take-over in the city of London, UK -
starting with Oxford Circus.

What is lenticular, you ask?
Remember those glasses you could wear with the eyes that opened and closed?
Early photo animation; the original .GIF. This technology began in the 1930’s
and has made a recent come-back in advertising.

We shot the macro eyes in motion + stillsin a Culver City, Los Angeles studio.
Casting was crucial – finding real, expressive people with great skin, clear
eyes and stunning irises. More than anything in the end - an ability to emote
through the eyes, without even the slightest movement. The lighting set up was
complicated to say the least. With numerous variations, the models had to
physically climb into the lighting cave we built and have their head stabilized
onto a grip. This certainly wasn’t an easy gig for the talent.

The post production on this one was
the hero of the project. We spent atonof time finding visuals that worked
with each person’s iris. With
so many elements inside, it was imperative we maintained the original feeling
of the eye. A lot of time was dedicated to testing out the lenticular;
deciphering if the eye should move or remain static. After plenty of
large-scale test prints, toying with various color transitions and late night deliberation,
our vision was coming to life and we were ready to head into the final stages
of digital illustration.

Meeting through google hangout -
Brett and I would work through screen share and have check-in meetings every
day to see where each piece was landing. Our partnership was paramount in this
process. Together, we would verbally paint out the look - then I would go away to carry
forth our vision. We spent over a month together in post production. Everyday -
painting and collaborating - exactly what I love about my job.

Some BTS and a little background from my digital tech about our setup...always wish we had more behind the scene images to share. In the moment, we're all too excited and focused on what's happening on set!

----

All the macro eye shots are real people's eyes (with graphics overlaid of course) and shoot on the amazing @phaseonephoto IQ3 100mp back attached to the Phase XF body. We used some extension tubes and the new Schneider 120mm Blue Ring Macro F4 lens. Since the IQ3 100 has a CMOS sensor we were able to shoot at ISO 400 and use hot lights and still get a stunningly clear shot. With the low key lighting we were really pushing the limits of the current technology. My capture cart if I recall was an Eizo CG277 on an @inovativ cart with a Mac Pro trashcan.